Beneath the City
by Ed's Tomato
Summary: In a world full of outcasts, there are still those who remain banished from the light of day. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle X-Men Crossover.
1. Prologue: Jubilee

_A/N For the third time I've revamped this. It was just after I read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, so bear with the excessive language (not potty mouth, just wordy, heh...well there's potty mouth too. I swear like a sailor, shoot me. shrug) I hope this version is more readable and accessible, and in character. I'm taking it in a different direction than I'd originally intended to, so to those who liked how it was going before you have my sincerest apologies._

**Prologue: Jubilee**

She was dark within the shadows, thick space between light and wall. She crouched next to a dilapidated brick building, the slight shift in shadow as she brought in heavy lungfuls of breath the only hint at her whereabouts. Boots that reached to her knees remained motionless in an inch of filmy water, afraid to shift and alleviate the stiffness in her legs for fear of the mildest audible splash.

There came the sudden murmur of many feet approaching. She chanced a quick turn of her head, eyes resting on a dimly lit alleyway to her left. There was no way to tell what was down it without exploring it firsthand, and by all accounts the mob seemed to be coming steadily closer. Plucking up her courage, and the yellow rain slicker she wore, she darted from the shadows and into the depths of the corridor just before her hunters would come into view.

Her features were pleasant though currently frowning in concentration; skin the smooth porcelain undertones of the east while her blue eyes denoted her American heritage. Short black hair manipulated with mousse and texture to stand up in a dark halo of mess around her face, and a pair of pink sunglasses nestled motionless within it. Her jeans were tight enough to make out the curve of toned thigh, and ripped in several places, though it seemed to be as much fashion statement as rough living.

Shouts of anger and instruction from her pursuers echoed through the otherwise vacant damp streets somewhere behind her as she desperately searched for safety. Her worst fears were realized when she found the alley to be a dead end.

Breath caught in her throat as she stopped just short of the concrete side of a building. Heart thudding audibly in her chest, she felt the faintest prick of fear induced nausea, but she determinedly squashed it down. Squaring her shoulders, she turned to face the light at the end of the alley, prepared to go down fighting. Her vision, blurred with the faintest trace of unshed tears, caught the glint of metal in the moonlight. A grate at her feet, leading… Where? ...The sewer?

Her nose wrinkled in distaste, but she had no time for the luxury of a second thought. Kneeling, she slid thin fingers through the crisscross of sharp metal to gain a firm grip. Fingerless gloves offered little protection from the bite as she strained to up-heave the thick grating. It was much heavier and more comfortable in it's current position than it looked. After a frantic moment of heart pounding in her ears, she jarred it loose and kicked it a few inches open. Nearly enough room; she could very nearly fit. Using strength born of adrenaline she shoved the grate open a few precious inches more. Enough to squeeze through.

Holding her breath, she dropped down into the dark. The only light cast in these damp tunnels streamed through the cracks of the open grate above. She desperately wished she could close it to cover her tracks, but it was a good foot or more beyond her reach now, and no more weightless than it had been.

Cursing inwardly and praying for a bit of good fortune, she began to make her way slowly down into the almost impregnable darkness. Determined not to give herself time to feel trepidation about jumping from the frying pan into a whole new disgusting fryer. Her boots sloshed through indescribable filth, but better that than being beaten to death up on the rain drenched streets.

With belated remembrance she reached into her jacket's pocket, fished around until she found a penlight, and twisted the top to activate it. It gave off little glow, but the girl was able to find her way through the maze without meeting any corners face first.

She had been wandering almost half an hour, the terror and adrenaline having died down to be replaced with irritation and displeasure at her current surroundings, when she heard the echo of voices behind her. Shrinking against the wall, she doused her light and prepared to face that which she believed to be her pursuers. That same spike of fear shooting up through her again, not as far away as she thought it'd been.

They carried no light; only the oddly occurring slit from the street above allowed her to see them at all. She could make out four shapes, short and burly, but no distinguishing features. As they passed where she hid, she threw her lithe body from cover and leaped into the air, lashing out with her right leg at the last figure. She was aiming for the head. The connection jarred her body, but she was rewarded when she heard a groan and a curse as he slammed into the far wall.

Surprised that he was still conscious, she set her jaw; _no matter; he wouldn't be for long_. Dropping to a crouch in an offensive posture, she held her arms out before her, curling her palms out to face her opponents. As the first shape approached her, she struck with her left hand, aiming to crush his nose back into his skull and prove she meant business. Instead, she bit back a cry of pain when her palm slammed into a hard flesh that melded with the face too smoothly to be a nose. The girl clutched her hand to her chest, taking a wary step back, assuming that he had somehow turned his face at the last moment or that her aim had been poor.

"How many are there?" One of the figures sounded more curious than perturbed. The man she'd felled had returned to his feet and all four were approaching her.

Still dusting himself off the figure who'd taken the hit to the head grumbled, "I dunno, but I'm gonna kill 'em."

There was fumbling as though for a light or weapon, and the girl didn't intend to wait around to find out which. She pointed her hands out toward her enemies, and drew on the power that had manifested itself at puberty. Her mutant gift. A half second breath where the tunnel was silent and then came the eruption of noise as the tunnel exploded in colored light.

"Ah Help, I'm Blind!" Shrieked the figure in front falling back and shielding his eyes with a muscular arm. Knowing that she was outnumbered, and it occurring to her she might not have properly recognized her enemies, she turned to dart away down the hall.

"Oh no you don't," Growled out the same low city accent that had promised to kill her. Bare feet slapped after her in a frenzied tempo that mirrored her own heartbeat; the only warning she'd get to precede the heavy weight landed to the back of her head. She had only a moment to think, _Uh oh, _as the world tilted, and she slid off the earth into her own nightmares.

"Bring the light," The figure said, kneeling beside her, "Jesus," he groaned audibly, "it's just a girl."

He bent carefully to lift her, despite it having been his blow that felled her. He turned to face his three brothers, the corners of his mouth turned down in a familiar frown. "Great. What now?"

"Can we keep her?"

Three groans issued in unison.

"That joke wasn't funny the first time you told it."


	2. Chapter One: Jubilee

**Chapter One: Jubilee**

The girl's eyes slid open, blinking away dizziness, her mouth feeling like cotton. She'd been sucker punched in the back of the head, she recalled slowly. She was probably in danger still. Pushing herself up on her forearms, she tried to ascertain her surroundings, but she was immersed in darkness. The only source of light was spilled through a crack she assumed must be the door, but instead of illuminating the room it only served to sharpen the distinction of shadow.

She became aware of an argument ensuing: a low voice that sounded irritated and a calm complacent one trying to reason with it, both decidedly male. Forcing unsteady legs to support her, she crept toward the crack intending to spy, but found she could see little from that vantage lest she risk exposing herself. She was obliged to content herself with listening still, and tried to determine friend from enemy if there was such a thing here.

"This is stupid! Why are we debating this?"

"What do you suggest we do? We can't just execute her."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment, indicating that the speaker did indeed consider that a viable option, before he continued his tirade.

"From what I can see she's one of Shredder's assassins. She attacked us, Leo, there's no reason to think she's even remotely innocent!"

"What I'd like to know is how she knew we lived here. We've gone to a lot of trouble to keep hidden and if they've known all along then we need to seriously reevaluate our…"

"Maybe she didn't know, maybe she was just waiting for us to walk by," Interjected a new voice.

"Not likely Mike."

"Well, maybe. Or maybe she just got scared when she saw us..."

"Right, she just happened to be in OUR sewer in the middle of the night."

"Just calm down Raph, she's just a kid."

A snicker and a mumbled, "Yeah right…_like that'll happen_."

"What was that Mikey?"

"I said…so what was that _light, before, that happened?_"

"At first guess? I'd say she had a firecracker in her hand, but I didn't see one. I'd venture to say our assassin is a mutant. I'd say powers somewhere in the realm of the generation and manipulation of solar plasma?" A fourth voice supplied.

"_Woah_. English, Dude."

"She shoots plasma flares."

"Like…_blood_? …Gross."

"Like the sun, Mikey, sheesh crack a book once in a while."

"Well it looked like the fourth of July to me."

"Well yeah…that's what I was saying."

"I said English, Dude."

Their voices sounded exponentially closer with each word, and she fought the urge to push open the door to get a look at her captors. She had to hurriedly return to the pallet she'd woken on, feigning sleep as the door pushed open.

"Hush, do not wake the child," a stern voice, gently worn with age, reprimanded the four. The crack of light became larger, casting it's glow across the pallet, and the girl forced herself to keep her breathing even and her eyes still beneath the lids. A cool calloused hand, wrinkled and slender made light contact with her brow.

"Her fever has broken."

"I don't know why you had to hit her so hard Raph."

"Hittin her didn't give her a damn fever," The voice grumbled.

The girl filed the name for future reference. Raph was the one she'd carry the grudge against. She wondered what they planned to do with her, they hadn't hurt her since the initial knockout, but...who knew...maybe they were just holding her for someone else. Like those damned Friends of Humanity.

She waited until they'd left the room and then longer, waiting for over an hour until she could make out distant snores. Finally. She pushed herself up, stretching out the kinks and brushing her hair out of her face before creeping from the room to enter a common room furnished with shabby dressings. A coffee table that looked homemade, a couch that had been thoroughly patched and was sporting mismatched cushions. A television with exposed wiring and a threadbare rug that covered the cold concrete floor. She realized with surprise that they were still underground. These people lived in the sewer.

Her first guess was these were Morlocks, but she thrust that idea aside. The Morlocks had all been exterminated by Sinister, and even if they were somehow surviving remnants of that group…why would one mutant hurt another? Of course there was the Brotherhood, but…well it just didn't make any sense. She comforted herself with the thought that finding out who these captors were and what their intentions, would come much easier from the familiar safety of the Mansion. She had crept halfway across the room when a dark figure sauntered from the shadows outside to stand before her.

"Goin' somewhere?" he asked, and the girl froze. Blocking her exit was a mutant, after all. A green man. The most physically manifested mutation she'd ever seen. More than Toad or Beast or Nightcrawler. This guy was a turtle.

Or more accurately he looked like a cross between a human and a turtle, and he yawned spinning a sai in his right hand, holding another in his left. His expression was bored, his body language relaxed, but that did little to distract from the massive musculature. His biceps were huge, well defined and he was way too comfortable with those sharp shiny weapons.

Well that answered the question of the missing nose. The guy was sporting something more akin to a beak, although she could have sworn he was the one she'd kicked in the head and not the one who's face she'd hit. She was fairly sure this was Raph.

"Kidnapping is like…a felony you know," Her eyes slid from him to the exit behind him, wondering if it was the only way out and how far away his cohorts were.

"Yeah? And I hear assault's frowned on too, kid."

"Kid?" She asked incredulously, eyes narrowing to slits. The turtle looked unabashed.

"Yeah, kid. As in, What's the Shredder doing sending a little _kid_ like you to mess with a big bad turtle like me?"

"First of all, you're the one messing with me and second of all…," She raised her hands toward him and the turtle was suddenly showered with a myriad of hot sparkling colors resembling fireworks. She knew she wasn't going to have long before the others heard the noise; so, as soon as he cried out and staggered backward, Jubilee dashed around him and down the corridor.

Heart thudding in her throat, she turned on the speed, not able to see in the dark, but running blindly for freedom. She heard the sounds of the household waking up behind her, and more pertinent, the loud shout of an angry turtle barreling after her.


	3. Chapter Two: Raphael

**Chapter Two: Raphael**

Raphael wasn't one to wait around nursing wounds; still smarting from the brand new burns, he tore after her. He didn't know what the hell she'd hit him with but he didn't plan to give her the chance again. He'd had his own misgivings about hitting a pretty little thing like she was, despite what he'd told the others, but as far as he was concerned she'd just made herself a real enemy. Fucking Foot. Every time you thought you got rid of them, there they surfaced again.

He threw himself forward, catching the girl in a flying tackle, slamming her into the thin layer of sludge that covered the surface of the tunnel floor. He kept her crushed beneath him to make sure she couldn't get a shot off with those hands, because as far as he could tell the fireworks were somehow coming directly from them. He'd mull over the implications of that later, the important thing now was to subdue her and get information.

"No way I'm lettin' you hit me with that again," He snarled in her ear, keeping his heavy body weight over her, three fingered hand sliding between them to take both her wrists in a tight grip. He could feel her tremble beneath him and he wondered with a cynical smirk what exactly she was afraid of. His eyes centered on hers seriously. "Alright, we're getting up now and you're going to behave or I'm going to have to bash you."

"BEHAVE?" She demanded, as he hauled her to her feet, legs kicking and looking like she was doing her best to boot him between the legs. Thank goodness for shells. It was good to be a turtle.

"What's going on?" Leonardo appeared in the doorway fixing his brother with an accusatory look.

The girl writhing in his arms certainly looked shocked to see another one. Almost more shocked than she'd appeared at getting a good look at Raphael. He'd have to look into that later.

"She tried to escape," He explained looking irritable at being accused, holding the girl's back to his plastron, arms tight around her, wrists bound so that her hands were pointed at herself. He carried her forward, almost amused at how her legs kept swinging in a desperate attempt to get free.

Leonardo nodded toward the living room, looking serious. When did Leo not look serious? Raph let out a snort of irritation at his brother's demeanor as he carried the girl inside. As always, Raphael was the one doing what had to be done. Leo would probably have found it…dishonorable or something…tackling a young girl. It wasn't as though Raphael got his jollies off strutting around caveman style with little girls in tow.

"No one's going to hurt you," Leo felt it necessary to promise her as his other two brothers and Master Splinter filed out into the living room. Again the girl looked far more surprised at seeing Mike and Don than she did at Splinter's strange visage. Definitely an unusual reaction. Of course, she probably thought they were regular mutants like she was. She wasn't used to seeing a family of identically mutated turtles, but no one ever was.

"Oh yeah right! Like I'm supposed to believe that?" The girl writhed again and Raphael scowled, wearing the expression he so often did when he was losing his temper. She was really starting to piss him off.

"Raphael, let her go," Leonardo interjected firmly, wearing that 'I know what's best for everyone' expression that Raph hated so much.

"Are you kidding?" He demanded, glancing down at the squirming bundle of girl that he noticed Mikey giving the eye to. "Are you out of your fuckin' mind?"

The language elicited another scowl from his older brother and Master Splinter inclined his head.

"I agree with Leonardo. We are not jailors, we cannot imprison her here. We must hope she is willing to stay and speak with us awhile, but we cannot force her."

Raphael looked furious, seeing red for a minute and it was pinned squarely on his elder brother. "Fine then," He growled between clenched teeth, "It's on your head."

As soon as he released his hold and he moved back away, she held up her hands in defensive warning. Her narrowed eyes slid from brother to brother, obviously not considering the elderly rat to be as much of a threat. Raph took the opportunity to pick at his teeth with a sai, slouching back against the wall and letting the others deal with her if they wanted to go this route. He'd said his piece.

Michelangelo elbowed him and leaned in to whisper, "She's a babe."

"She's a brat."

"SHE is standing right here and can totally hear you," The girl exclaimed, shooting Leo a hostile look when he took a step toward her.

"Guys, can it." The eldest ordered, "I'd really like to know why you attacked us….." He trailed off waiting for her to fill in the blank with her name.

She looked hesitant, and when Raphael was able to stand back and watch her he realized she was probably scared. She covered it well enough though, jaw jutting out and thin arms flexed with determination.

"It's Jubilee, and I attacked you, because you were following me. Or…" She seemed to realize slowly, "At least I thought you were."

"As you've probably guessed, we live here," Leo pointed out patiently, "We were just going home. We weren't following you."

The gears were grinding as she thought it over, patching together the likelihood of their story with whatever had come before it. Raph smirked as that brash mouth on her looked at a loss for words. He folded his arms across his chest; feeling at least mildly satisfied that she wasn't going to be blasting up any of his brothers. Maybe calling her Foot had been jumping the gun after all.

"I uhm. Well I thought you were following me," She tried lamely, frowning, "Sorry."

"Are you in trouble?" Leonardo seemed to determine that it was now their obligation to assist her since she didn't seem to be an enemy. He adopted the look of concern he always did when 'helping the helpless'. Raphael rolled his eyes as his brother continued. "Are there people following you?"

He could pick up on her defensive posture immediately. The unsettlement in her eyes that betrayed her bravado. He was pretty sure Leo could see it too, or he'd have pointed it out. His brother might piss him off but he wasn't stupid, and the girl…Jubilee…was obviously in more trouble than she wanted to let on.

"Actually I'm great," She promised, "I had a little bit of a hitch but y'know, nothing I can't handle."

"Yeah I'm sure," Raphael agreed with a sarcastic chuckle, which earned him a dirty look from most of the room. They seemed to think dealing with kid gloves was the best direction to take, but Raphael was of the opinion, anyone who got herself into that much trouble should be able to handle being told about it. Pretending like they believed her didn't do anyone any good.

"If you're in some kind of danger, maybe we can help," Leo tried.

"Nope," She agreed, "No trouble, but I'm late. Really late. Important date and all that. So I gotta go. It was really great to meet you guys. Seriously. We'll write or something."

Leonardo nodded looking somber and understanding. Of course he did. Of course he wasn't bothered that the pretty human couldn't wait to get away from them. Raphael turned away to mask the bitterness on his face.

"I'm going out."

He heard his brother asking her to keep their existence a secret as he headed out the door. Fat chance of that. They should probably move. They'd had good luck with humans up until now. Leo was being stupid to just let her go like this.

He stalked around the sewers for a few minutes, shadowing the young woman as she headed toward the surface with his brother's instructions. She pushed up the grate and then he saw her freeze and duck her head back down in the shadows. He heard movement overhead.

Raphael reached up suddenly to pull her down from the ladder, holding her against him as the footsteps got even closer. His mouth was near her ear, feeling a strange sort of thrill and anger at knowing he might disgust her.

"Shhhh."

She swallowed hard, not trying to pull away until the footsteps had faded. He could feel her heartbeat thumping hard against him and hear the sound of her breathing loud in his ears, small gasping.

"You okay?" He ventured finally, surprised at his own gentleness. She'd made him nervous. He called her kid but she was probably really about his age. He hadn't known a girl his age before. That elicited an inward groan. Getting a hard on over the first girl he met, and not even the same species. Not that girls came in his species. He was thinking on this too much.

"Yeah," She swallowed hard and glanced up at him, his hand still on her shoulder and he swiftly moved it.

"Who is it?" He asked mildly, moving to pull himself up the ladder and glance out curiously.

"Friends of Humanity," She answered after a moment, the expression on her face indescribable.

"That one of them Christian Coalition type things?"

"No, this is more…mutant haters. Big bad, burn you at a stake types."

He snorted shaking his head. It seemed like every time he turned around another group of hate mongers sprang up. Knowing there were mutants on the street hadn't eased their minds much about going topside. Most of these mutants looked human. Had gifts. He and his brothers were just freaks.

"How 'bout I take you home," He offered, pushing the grate up and away with ease. He glanced back to see her chew on her lip and nod. She seemed the stubborn type, so they must really scare her. He reached down to offer a hand, calmer now that he could see she was just a kid who didn't mean his family harm.

When she took his hand, he smirked slightly, glancing away to hide the pleasure at the fact she didn't shy from his touch. He pulled her up easily, glancing around for trouble, but the city was pleasingly quiet.

"I've got a motorcycle…s'not far," He offered, glad he'd kept the Nightwatcher gear even though he'd hung up the chains, so to speak. She strode evenly after him, a bounce to her gait as she glanced around. "Y'know," He started conversationally, "Yellow isn't the best color for camouflage."


End file.
